Pete Buttigieg is almost certainly preparing to run for office in Michigan. That's why he relocated there from Indiana in 2022, a maneuver commonly referred to as "carpetbagging." He is reportedly "taking a serious look" at the U.S. Senate race in 2026 after incumbent Sen. Gary Peters (D., Mich.) announced his retirement this week. He could also run for governor in 2026 to succeed the incumbent Democrat, Gretchen Whitmer, who can't run again due to term limits. The only thing that might prevent Buttigieg from pursuing these opportunities is his insatiable ambition to be the first openly gay president of the United States.
Recent developments suggest Buttigieg is already positioning himself for higher office. Online sleuths noticed that Buttigieg recently removed the "he/him" pronouns from his social media bios, following in the footsteps of other prominent Democrats, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Elizabeth Warren, in a largely futile effort to appear less crazy to normal voters. Buttigieg has also updated his bio to describe himself as a "proud Midwesterner." Democrats are removing their pronouns at least in part due to the success of Donald Trump's campaign ad highlighting Kamala Harris's support for taxpayer-funded sex change operations for illegal immigrants in prison, which concluded with the memorable tagline, "Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you."
Buttigieg's early attempts to woo Michigan voters have been relatively unsuccessful. In December, for example, he visited a union hall in Monroe, Mich., where he was asked who the Detroit Lions were preparing to play on Sunday. Buttigieg had no idea. If he decides to run in Michigan, the former Indiana resident will be the early favorite to win the Democratic nomination due to his immense popularity among journalists, coastal elites, and other rich liberals. Buttigieg will likely tout his experience as transportation secretary in the Biden administration, but his record in that role does not inspire much confidence in his leadership abilities.
For example, the Biden administration pledged 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations by 2030, using funds appropriated in the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Buttigieg was in charge of administering those funds for EV charger construction. As of June 2024, just seven charging stations had been built. As the Washington Free Beacon reported at the time, the lack of progress was largely due to the strict requirements imposed as part of the administration's diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. In many if not all cases, applicants for federal grants to construct new charging stations were required to submit lengthy reports about how the project would advance "equity" and be "inclusive of disadvantaged communities."
Buttigieg would clearly like to run for president again. He technically has more experience now than he did during his failed run in 2020, which he launched after serving two terms as mayor of the liberal college town of South Bend, Ind., the 4th-largest city in the 17th-largest state. Buttigieg was adored by wealthy white liberals, especially in the "Boat Shoe" vacation enclaves of Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket. Alas, he failed to register statistically significant support among black voters, and was widely despised by the black residents of South Bend. Buttigieg is also one of the least charismatic Democratic politicians since Hillary Clinton. One of his own political advisers compared Buttigieg's speaking style to that of "the fucking Tin Man ... reading a fucking shopping list."
Good luck?
